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STORY: Nineteen-year-old Kkavya landed in Bengaluru with dreams of getting a degree in English literature and an exciting job at a tech firm.During a job interview, Khavya, who hails from Kashmir, was told she would have amazing job opportunities in India's Silicon Valley.She was sold the "Bengaluru dream.""What was promised to me when I came to work, they were like, 'Listen, the weather is going to be amazing, you're going to get paid, come work for us for seven hours, go home, take a beer, chill, sleep."After three years in the city, the dream is falling apart, and fast.One problem is the traffic."Do you see the horn? Did you hear it? This is my nightmare."As it was transformed into India's tech hub, the city has struggled to keep up with the massive population influx.Kkavya now spends up to five or six hours on her daily commutes.In the 1990s, Bengaluru rapidly became India's answer to Silicon Valley.It attracted millions of workers and the regional headquarters of some of the world's biggest IT companies.But unrestrained urban expansion has affected Bengaluru's character as a liveable city.With the city poised to vote in the second phase of India's national election on Friday (April 26), Kkavya said she felt frustrated to see that these issues are rarely addressed by local politicians and candidates."We are that sad now, we don't even think that this is something politicians can fix, because they never talk about it. Traffic is our problem, roads are our problem, hospital is your problem. So when I tell my boss that I can't reach on time, it's my problem, not the people who made the roads, not the people who are responsible for the traffic."And she struggles every morning to get water for her daily use. Weak southwest monsoon rains last year failed to replenish depleted groundwater causing shortages.This forced residents to ration water use and pay a much higher price.Water rates at her apartment have gone up by almost four times from about $8.40 per month to more than $27. "Water is expensive as it gets. It is something like we fight for, cause I remember, two days back, this building and the next building had a war over one tank. Because there was only one tank available, and we both wanted it, so basically they paid more and they got it."
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